(WSPA) – The launch of the Artemis II spacecraft Wednesday was NASA’s first manned lunar exploration since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. And it would not have been possible without one Upstate native.
Charlie Blackwell-Thompson has served as launch director at NASA since 2016. A native of Gaffney and a graduate of Gaffney High School and Clemson University, Blackwell-Thompson is the first woman to be named a launch director at NASA.
As launch director, she manages all launch countdown plans and the procedures for launching and, if needed, scrubbing a launch…